A Quick Commentary On A Power Cut

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I'm not sure where the distinction is between a power cut and a blackout but either way, I'm in one. I'm sitting in a cafe where I was given a free cake to go with my lasagne, cheesecake and coffee and about 5 minutes ago the lights went out.

It always happens very suddenly here, without any warning at all, and as I look out now everything I can see is dark. The Taco Bell opposite, the Grocers next door, the ice cream shop, the bank and all the street lights are all pitch black.
This is a fairly regular thing in Costa Rica, it happens about once a week, but most of the time it seems to be a residential thing. The shops, cafes and bars don't seem to be affected, so it feels weird to be sitting here in total darkness with five other customers and a couple of staff.

The first thing that the girl who served me my free cake did when the lights went out was scream, then run to the door, lock it, run into the kitchen and not come back out. In terms of making you feel safe and secure that one's right up there with an airhostess screaming 'We're all going to die!' and then bailing with the only parachute during a bit of turbulance. I can only assume they're expecting looters but, honestly, that seems unlikely. Maybe they just want to protect their customers, because if something happened to me, who would rinse them for free cakes? Either way, I was imagining that some kind of Blitz Spirit would break out among the eight of us trapped here in our food filled prison, but it hasn't quite materialised. After a couple of minutes I considered starting a sing-a-long to help everybody get through it but no one looks that interested. I'm not even sure I know all the words to 'We'll Meet Again' anyway.

The lights have flickered on and off a couple of times now but it still hasnt coaxed the Costa Rican version of Corporal Jones out from the kitchen. There's still no sign of any LA style looting either, just a load of people waiting outside the Taco Bell looking a bit pissed off.

It's amazing how quickly you get used to the electricty and water going off on a regular basis. I remember the power going at home for about an hour a few years ago and I thought it was the end of the world. Here, it's such a regular occurance that you just kind of get on with it. It's mildly inconvenient when the electricty goes when you're in the middle of cooking tea or the water goes as you get in the shower but it's nothing more than that. The attitude to life here is such that it will probably come back on at some point and there is nothing so important that it can't wait for an hour or so, and whilst this is a million miles away from my natural state of mind, it's infectious and I now find myself shrugging and telling people not to worry when the water goes off for four days or the bus is an hour late. I wonder how long that will last back in England.

After 20 minutes or so, the power has come back on. Our hero in the kitchen has just come out with a sheepish look on her face, similar to the looks on the faces of the people who thought the world was ending on the Millenium, when it got to January 1st and they had to come out of their lead lined bunkers and apologise to everyone they'd been rude to.

So it's a nice happy ending, the looters clearly found somewhere better to go, the hungry people are back in Taco Bell and I reckon I can talk my way into another free cake.

Pura Vida

Dave

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